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Abstract

Excavations at Black Loch of Myrton, Dumfries & Galloway are revealing the very well-preserved remains of an Iron Age settlement, the wetland context ensuring that the timber structures have remained intact and that the detritus of daily occupation survives for us to pick apart and understand. One of the structures in this settlement is an exceptionally well-preserved roundhouse, the material remains of which have been subjected to a barrage of analyses encompassing the insect, macroplant, bone and wood assemblages, soil micromorphology, faecal steroids, radiocarbon-dating and dendrochronology. These will enable us to address some of the key issues regarding the life cycles of Iron Age roundhouses, from conception and construction, use of internal space, nature of occupation and likely function, through to abandonment. Critically, we are now able to view that life cycle through the lens of a tightly-defined chronology bringing us close to the ‘ … short-term timescales of lived reality’ [Foxhall, L. 2000. “The Running Sands of Time: Archaeology and the Short-Term.” World Archaeology 31 (3): 484–498].

Item Type:

Articles

Additional Information:

The excavations at Black Loch of Myrton and the ongoing post-excavation programme are being
funded by Historic Environment Scotland [grant number AMJ/9127/4/18]. The insect analysis at Plymouth University and the faecal steroids analysis at Newcastle University were undertaken as part of
the AHRC-funded programme ‘Celtic Connections and Crannogs: A new Study of Lake Settlements
Across the Irish Sea’ [grant number AH/M005259/1]. Faecal steroid analyses were funded by NERC
LSMSF [grant number BRIS/92/1016] and conducted in collaboration with University of Bristol.